Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Refreshing!
Simply throwing a few ingredients into a salad bowl and thoughtlessly adding a manufactured salad dressing product rarely yields something to write home about. It is better to maintain a goal of creating something worthwhile rather than settling for the same old salad choices.
Many classic and modern salads feature lettuce greens with fruit and cheese. There are classic cheese and fruit pairings that are well known, like Camembert and cherries or Chevre and figs. All it takes is a little imagination to figure a good cheese and fruit pairing that would work well in a salad recipe.
Greek Kefalograviera Cheese and Carambola (Star Fruit) go well together. A mild sheeps milk cheese like Kefalograviera is perfect with the light refreshing tropical flavor of Carambola fruit. These mild fruit and cheese flavors are best when served with mild lettuce greens, like Romaine, Boston or Bibb.
Deciding on a salad dressing that is best for a combination of Romaine, Kefalograveria and Carambola does take some thought. Buttermilk, yogurt or mayonnaise based salad dressings would mask the delicate flavors. A vinaigrette would be okay, but the acidity might compete with the Carambola flavor. A dressing with a natural sweet tangy flavor combination would be a better choice.
Pomegranate Molasses has a tangy deep pomegranate flavor with a hint of sweetness. Pomegranate Molasses is usually used in hot food recipes and to flavor warm bulgar wheat grain desserts. Pomegranate Molasses is a nice choice for making a tangy sweet sour flavored salad dressing. Just a dab of honey is all it takes to balance the tangy flavor, so it tastes nice with mild cheese, light tropical fruit and mild lettuce greens.
Pomegranate Molasses can be found at Mediterranean food markets. Some bottles are labeled as Tangy Pomegranate Molasses. The color is reddish brown. Pomegranate Molasses is not a true molasses. Pomegranate Molasses is more like a thick concentrate, so a little bit goes a long way.